Completed in March 2015, this walk is one of many I have planned along major Twin Cities thoroughfares. On the day of the walk, I tweeted my adventures using #LyndaleWalk.
Walk stats
Distance: 20.2 miles
Elapsed time: 7:21:41
Moving time: 5:41:32
Average pace: 16:52/mile
FitBit step total for the day: 45,012 steps
The route
After reading A midday escape on Lyndale Avenue in the Southwest Journal last year, I decided I wanted to walk the entire length of the major thoroughfare as one of my local walking challenges.
This walk had me step foot in four cities: Brooklyn Center, Minneapolis, Richfield, and Bloomington.
Within Minneapolis, I was in 14 neighborhoods: Lind-Bohanen, Webber-Camden, McKinley, Hawthorne, Near-North, Sumner-Glenwood, Harrison, Lowry Hill, Lowry Hill East, CARAG, East Harriet, Lynnhurst, and Kenny. Since Lyndale is the boundary for several of those neighborhoods, the list would be different had I walked on the east side of the street but for the most part I was on the west side during my time in the Minneapolis section.
18 miles of Lyndale Avenue
Janelle standing at her starting point
The start of my Lyndale Avenue walk was at 57th Avenue North in Brooklyn Center near the Mississippi River. After I returned from my walk I realized that I should have started north of 62nd Avenue North. Good thing I’m not a perfectionist! (ha!)
The end of my Lyndale Avenue walk was at the Minnesota River (closest numbered street was W 106th Street).
Caught my eye along the way
The walk starts along the Mississippi River. It was difficult for me to leave the water but I had to in order to stay on Lyndale Avenue.
View of the Mississippi River along Lyndale Avenue around 57th Avenue North
North Mississippi Regional Park
Driving along I-94, you may not know there is a beautiful park behind the sound barrier. North Mississippi Regional Park has great views of the Mississippi River, walking and biking trails, a playground, and a picnic area. Next time I’m at the park, I’ll check out the Carl Kroening Interpretive Center.
A few clues that I should have crossed the Interstate at 53rd Street to walk along W Lyndale Avenue N.
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- Interstate sound barrier wall
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- Bird nest on top of sound barrier
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- Lind-Bonhanen neighborhood
Building at 44th Avenue N
Read more about this building thanks to the investigative work of Ghost Signs of Minneapolis.
Train delay
Camden shopping center
Scuplture by Zoran Mojsilov
Fairview Park is a great place to sit and look at the skyline
I need to sit on this bench in Farview Park at sunrise.
One of the times I was unsure where it was safe to walk.
Celebration of Life Mural was torn down to make way for Heritage Park development
This sculpture marks the spot where the Celebration of Life mural once stood. It was torn down to make way for the Heritage Park housing development. Images of the mural by Bill Cottman.
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- The underbelly
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- I should have listened to the sign
I love driving by this piece of art – it isn’t quite the same on foot.
I wanted to stay close to the Minneapolis skyline which is where I went wrong and had to back track to stay on Lyndale.
I was off track at this point – I wonder why?
Basilica from a different angle than I normally see it.
This is so Minneapolis – Spoonbridge and Cherry at the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden
The most ridiculous bus stop in the city of Minneapolis.
Will this section of Lyndale Avenue be improved as a result of the Hennepin/Lyndale Avenue Reconstruction Project?
Lunch stop at Common Roots Cafe
Scott met me for lunch at one of our favorite places on Lyndale Avenue – Common Roots Cafe. He was sick so unfortunately he couldn’t join me for the walk.
Yarn bombed trees in front of French Meadow Bakery & Cafe
Midtown Greenway
LynLake Brewery is so right
Blocked!
46th Street scarecrows
This couple went missing.
Then they were found.
Home at Lyndale Avenue and Minnehaha Parkway
Cookie monster at Washburn Library
I stopped at Washburn Library at 53rd Street and Lyndale Avenue South for a quick break. Urban hiking should always involve stops at local libraries!
South Lyndale Liquors at 53rd Street
Made it across the border without incident.
Preparing to cross over I-494 in Bloomington
Toro corporate campus, 8111 Lyndale Ave S, Bloomington, MN
Great Bear Center, 9070 Lyndale Ave S, Bloomington, MN
David Fong’s has been open since 1958
David Fong’s has been open since 1958 and is the meeting place for the Bloomington Lion’s Club.
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- Tracks
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- Nice try. You can’t stop me Bloomington.
A motley collection of small businesses at 99th Street in Bloomington.
A pretty end to Lyndale and a roundabout so I could walk back if I wanted
At the southend of Lyndale Avenue is the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge
At the end of the 18 mile walk, I was ready to head home even though I wanted to explore the wildlife refuge. Have you ever been to the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge? The Louisville Swamp Unit trails are beautiful.
Future walks
Other major streets to serve as future walking adventures:
- Lake Street & Marshall Avenue
- Cedar Avenue
- Hennepin Avenue
- France Avenue
- Nicollet Avenue
- University Avenue
- 38th Street (great idea Jason!)
What’s your favorite street to explore in the Twin Cities? In Minnesota? In other states or countries?
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Nicely done! I’ve convinced a friend to do Hennepin with me when our schedules/pleasant weather line up and was thinking of a streets.mn post, but I’ve been trying for about fifteen years (clearly not very hard–just asking friends) to find a walking partner to head south on Lyndale and see how far we can get in a day–my father’s always talked about how it turned into a county road that continued south through where he was teaching on the Iowa/Missouri border. How did you determine your southern boundary?
Love seeing the pics!
Thanks Julia! Wikipedia is helpful in some of my route planning:
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyndale_Avenue
But also looking at Google maps I could tell that Lyndale Ave in Bloomington ends at the wildlife refuge (It’s a roundabout of sorts). I can’t tell on my phone map where it picks up again but Wikipedia lists Faribault.
I’m researching a walk along Cedar Ave which would take me to Farmington though safety is definitely a concern because it may not be well suited for a walker.
I look forward to hearing about your Hennepin adventure.
You’d have to bend some rules with Cedar unless you want to walk along the freeway, maybe walk along Old Cedar Ave and Nichols Road… Also it will get easier when the Long Meadow Lake bridge is reopened (and the pedestrian crossing over the river itself is closed this summer).
Monte,
Thanks for your thoughts on Cedar Avenue – I figured I’d have to bend the rules in order to stay alive! Thanks for your suggestions and a heads up about construction that may impact this walk.
Janelle
Nichols Road is the original routing of Cedar Avenue anyway (Dakota County just went with a less obvious name than “Old Cedar Avenue”). I think this would be an awesome post. I’d end it at Eureka Town Hall, which should be 30-ish miles from Seven Corners.
The Cedar Avenue route keeps going to Northfield (and the name picks up again), but the Dakota County naming convention means the Cedar Ave nameplate ends around Eureka Town Hall. There are also sidewalks or wide shoulders until that point all the way north — with adequate hi-viz, etc, I think it could be done safely. (I’ve ridden Cedar Ave from Northfield to Lakeville many times, cutting over to Pilot Knob to avoid the freeway.)
But as Monte said, the river crossing could be an issue. You could take the Red Line bus from MOA to Cedar Grove to get across the river, but might be better to just wait till next year when you can cross it!
Until the Long Meadow Lake bridge reopens late next summer, the only way is to take a long detour east and follow the green trail to reach the pedestrian river bridge. Both the green trail and the river bridge itself are closed for the first half of the summer for the “New Cedar” bridge project.
https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=z-PLIlflLkIk.klm7wH-v8gt4&ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&ll=44.80084,-93.342934&spn=0.090013,0.154324&t=h&z=13
FWIW, that part where you watched the sunrise and saw the downtown skyline is FARview, not FAIRview. Lovely hill that you sat on — and you should try sledding down it in the winter!
Thank you for letting me know about my typo. It’s a great park and FAR better than fair :).
Some notes and trivia:
– North Mississippi Regional Park played a factor in the delay of I-94 construction. After originally approving I-94 in 1964, the Minneapolis Park Board reversed course and rescinded their approval in 1968. The 1975 state Legislature placed a moratorium on this section of I-94 (along with 6 other freeway segments in the Metro). MnDOT redesigned 94 (adding the split interchange at 49th/53rd and eliminating an interchange at 45th) and it was eventually built and opened in 1982.
– The rail line you crossed is Canadian Pacific’s Paynesville Subdivision, and is part of their mainline through the Twin Cities metro.
– Your experience near downtown and the Basillica demonstrates why the city could stand to do some refinement of the “I-94 frontage roads” there. Might be a subject worthy of a future Streets.MN post.
– Washburn Library was my “neighborhood” library growing up.
– Across the street from South Lyndale Liquors, in the building where Anytime Fitness is, that plot used to be the Boulevard Theater…the current Boulevard overhang is a reminder of its old location. It was a dollar theater where we caught many a movie growing up, during the movies’ 2nd runs.
– Where the Richfield sign is used to be a retail building, which 30 years ago housed Crosstown Bicycles, where my father bought me my first bike.
– There used to be a bridge across the Minnesota River on Lyndale Ave. It was taken out after the I-35W bridge opened in 1960.
– Pre-Interstate, Lyndale Ave north of Lake St was part of Highway 169, and south of Lake St was old Highway 65. The latter is why there’s also a Lyndale Ave in Faribault.
– When I-35W was completed through Richfield and Bloomington in 1960, that stretch of Lyndale (and up to 56th St) was reverted to local control. From Lake St to 46th reverted to the city ~1976, from 46th to 50th went to the city in 1988. The county didn’t fully take South Lyndale over until 1994. North of Lake St, 169 was taken off Lyndale in 1979.
Adam,
Thank you for taking the time to add to what I experienced on my walk. I’ve learned so much from Streets.MN writers and readers – thank you.
As a casual observer of issues that make walking a challenge (, I’d love the chance to have a Streets.MN writer knowledgeable in what may make it better.
As a current Lynnhurst resident, I often wish I could watch a movie in the old Boulevard Theater!
Thanks again for enhancing this post with your comments.